[Haskell-beginners] [Haskell-cafe] select :: [(Float, a)] -> a -- Weighted stochastic selection - help?

[C.M.Brown]

Nicolas,

> Yes
>
> > I feel, also, that as a reasonably experienced Haskell user, I am getting
> > confused with what should be fundamental Haskell concepts. Perhaps these
> > concepts should be made much clearer to beginners in the first instance.
>
> This article [1] seems a good introduction. Maybe one could sum-up what you
> think is missing from this article and extend it a bit.
>
> For instance one could explain the point about the run-time system.

Although what you've told me may be true (and I thank you for your
explanation), I'm still not at all convinced that it's useful to think of
IO as being pure. It still produces an effect if I evaluate it, no matter
how we sugar-coat these things.

I like the idea of the type system flagging the function as being
effect-full by the IO - and find that more useful than thinking about
runtime systems.

Thanks,
Chris.